UK MEDICAL private insurance or self pay

[lindsay]

Question re UK health coverage, presuming you have the NHS. I realise there is no black and white answer, and am aware in nauseating detail of the possible variables, just interested in personal viewpoints and experiences....or decisions.

My private insurance now costs 3100 gbp yearly with a 2500 franchise and works only if the NHS cant operate within 6 weeks, and no outpatient cover. Its is that high because I am that old. No insurance company is likely to be any better....prexisting conditions etc.

I would dearly like to be rid of the premium payment but so far lack the courage to take action. I would in theory have the cash available since I am now "skiing"....Spending the Kids Inheritance until I go over the horizon. If I caught something 'orrible I would simply take whatever the NHS has to offer.......I think

The alternative to insurance is to self pay if I need an operation where NHS waiting lists are too long for my pain threshold.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

 

[Tam Lin]

If it is a matter of life and death then the NHS will usually come to the rescue. When your condition is less urgent it can take longer to get treatment and that is where going private can help. Given the propensity for insurers to wiggle out of their obligations you could consider saving some money every year instead of policy payments and build up a pot of money for when you need it.

 

[bedouin]

Private insurance does three things. It allows you to get seen and treated in more pleasant surroundings, it allows you to get treated faster and it gives you access to treatments that are not available on the NHS.

Depends which of those you think you are paying for. If you are happy to use your GP and get him to diagnose and refer you then you can certainly on average save money by self-funding minor operations. Seems pretty big business in the private hospitals these days and I guess a simple operation will probably set you back £3-4K

The premium you are paying seems high - I get mine through an employer scheme although I pay the premiums myself and I think it is much less than half that.

I think Tam Lin's comments on insurers wriggling out is unfair in this instance. All policies I have seen are explicit as to what is and is not included (every procedure has a code these days).

As with any insurance on average you will save money by not buying it - in this case it depends what you would think if you were faced with the prospect of a 5 figure bill for treatment you couldn't get on the NHS

 

[Richard10002]

I would tend to agree that for anything truly serious, the NHS is possibly better than private, and certainly as good.

self funding certain parts of the diagnostics might make things happen quicker, as well as more minor stuff.

 

[GrahamM376]

I'm getting on in years as well but have no worries about treatment and don't have private medical insurance. It's 5 weeks since we returned home and in that time I've had NH X rays and an MRI scan so don't see the need to to take out private cover. EHIC has always worked well out of the UK.

 

[colind3782]

I've had private insurance since 1993 and the premiums are now £106 per month for the two of us, I'm 61 and she's 51, both in good health. Since then I've had two knee arthroscopies and one endoscopy paid for by the insurance. Even if the procedures are a couple of grand each I would certainly have saved a lot of money by self funding so I'm probably going to cancel at renewal and rely on the NHS.

 

[lindsay]

Thanks for the inputs. To Colind just fyi you can look forward to the premiums for THE SAME coverage doubling by age 71 and doubling again by 81.

You can reduce by ways as already mentionned but it is a losing financial battle. I know since I just got there. Food for thought?

 

[Chief Charlie]

An alternative?
We are both over 65 and sail the Med 6/12's of each year.
We have "Hospitalisation & Repatriation insurance" arranged through Bishop Skinner to cover emergencies while we are away from UK. We also subscribe to the Benenden Health scheme which provides cover if the NHS cannot come up trumps in a reasonable time. Seems to work well for us.

Charlie

 

[charles_reed]

Question re UK health coverage, presuming you have the NHS. I realise there is no black and white answer, and am aware in nauseating detail of the possible variables, just interested in personal viewpoints and experiences....or decisions.

My private insurance now costs 3100 gbp yearly with a 2500 franchise and works only if the NHS cant operate within 6 weeks, and no outpatient cover. Its is that high because I am that old. No insurance company is likely to be any better....prexisting conditions etc.

I would dearly like to be rid of the premium payment but so far lack the courage to take action. I would in theory have the cash available since I am now "skiing"....Spending the Kids Inheritance until I go over the horizon. If I caught something 'orrible I would simply take whatever the NHS has to offer.......I think

The alternative to insurance is to self pay if I need an operation where NHS waiting lists are too long for my pain threshold.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

Self-insure USED TO WIN hands down.
With the NHS probably going over the coming winter into meltdown it's possibly no longer true.

It's easy getting to the head of any queue by getting a private consultation (or so I've found) - you need to choose the consultant carefully for his levels of private practice.
This probably falls down in orthopaedics and some other highly geared specialities where, private or NHS, the facilities are the bottleneck.
For a recent operation for a friend, in the same Merit 1 hospital, NHS wait list was 6 months, private was 6 weeks and a total of £10K (as she got out 46hrs after surgery that came down to about £800). This was @ a centre of international excellence.
I'd certainly agree that you'll get the best acute care as an NHS patient - paying insurance premiums is for those who "enjoy" ill-health, have a company-provided healh insurance (as do many plc ex-board members of my acquaintance) or glory in conspicuous expenditure.

I'm afraid that doesn't help the OP much - because we're just about to go through an NHS apocalypse where care will be forcibly rationed by budget constraints and postcode lotteries.
Not a good time to add the maelstrom of Brexit to the F10 of underfunded NHS under a totally incompetent crew...
But there, always better to have an interesting, action packed life than a safe, comfy one.

 

[KellysEye]

Jane and I both have pivate medic insurance and the premiums increasing every year even though I had only used about it 20 years and Jane about 5 years. She called to say we are going to cancel the policies unless they reduce the price and stop any increases unless we make claim. They knocked 30% off the price per month and no increases in exchange for an increase in the excess we had to pay.

This is worth doing with every standing order, Jane has got the price down for every one and the AA even has 'lost client deprtment' you are put through to if you threaten to move.

 

[lindsay]

Thanks kellyseye. I will certainly give it a go. Have had same medical insurance for 22 years and used it twice because of the exess...so a really lousy investment. The only way it would be advantageous now would be if I had, for example, 3 costly operations in one year....not that I am planning to.

 

[RupertW]

Do be wary of the person who tells you the length of an NHS waiting list. If it is the consultant who you have just had an outpatient appointment with, and who is also offering you the private treatment then they may have an obvious motive for exaggerating the time length. This was very very common 5-10 years ago when waiting times post outpatient appointment were down to 6 weeks or less for most routine and serious operations - but people were still asked to stump up for private operations only to find a letter offering them an NHS date a couple of weeks later.

Now it is alas more likely to be true as waits have climbed now for 5 years, but don't trust what the consultant, and particularly the consultant's secretrary tells you but ask the hospital admissions department to check on the facts.

 

[duncan99210]

Don't forget that you have the right within the NHS to 'shop arround' for your treatment. By that I mean that you can tell your GP that you wish to be referred to a particular consultant/hospital. You can find out beforehand where waiting times for particular procedures are lower than normal and get referred to that hospital/consultant. It's also worth making it clear to the consultant that you are prepared to accept a short notice slot, which will often shorten the waiting times.

A final point on dealing with the NHS is that if you run into a particularly obstructive secretary/appointments clerk, don't loose your temper, make notes on the exchange including names, and then use the internet to find out the name of the hospital CEO and write to him/her personally outlining the problem and your preferred outcome. I've done this twice now and had a more than satisfactory result on each occasion.